Naruto: A Changeling's Unexpected Adventure
by Alucard1959
Summary: A demon, a beast and a trickster all wrapped into one little boy. An orphaned child that has no past and seemingly no future as he merely walked through life aimlessly using his abilities to escape the harsh world that surrounds him. However, during his lowest point, two young girls and her family took him in and gave him meaning, to protect his family! genderbending! NaruHarem!
1. A Bond Is Born

**Prologue**

**A Bond is Born: The Namikaze Family's New Member**

**I own Nothing**

Hefty black clouds hung over the village hidden in the leaves as sheets of lukewarm droplets pelted the people of Konoha, said people ducking under whatever cover they could find, that being either local businesses welcoming customers, their homes or, in the case of two young girls, a local eatery that their family more than frequents on a daily basis. Parting the embroidered flaps that existed as a makeshift doorway for the establishment, the duo bolted forward just as a flash of lightning followed by the roar of thunder ripped through the city. Stumbling to a nearby table, the redhead of the group took a breather, using the surface to stabilize herself. "You just had to pick a fight on our first day back to school, didn't you, Nami?"

"What was I supposed to do, Kiba was letting his pup torment that poor little kitten." Her twin remarked, wringing as much rainwater she could out of her jacket onto the awaiting floor of Ichiraku Ramen.

"Now our school clothes are ruined, we spent hours shopping for these." Though a bit overdramatic, Mito wasn't wrong about the shape their clothing was in - the rain had done quite a number on them. Her attire, which consisted of a light orange battle Kimono/obi combo with shortened sleeves and a pair of shorts that hid under the knee length fabric, was soaked to the bone - she was lucky she followed her mother's advice in wearing an undershirt or the fabric would leave little to the imagination. Not only was her clothing mangled by mother nature so to was her hair; her bright red hair that sat in a tightly knit side ponytail that trailed to her shoulder was now blown away, leaving it a long mess matted to her back and forehead.

Her sister's attire was also in a state of disarray but it seemed even more so by the look of dishevelment and markings that were found on her coat and pants. Her black and dark orange jacket, seeing as it was soaked with water, was slipping from her frame, only a single shoulder keeping the garment on top of her. Under it lied a simple black sleeveless turtleneck crop top with a pair of orange pants that lead to her lower thighs. "It's called a dryer, Mito-chan - it's not the end of the world," She mumbled, trying to rebind her two pigtails into a more manageable and appropriate look.

"Oh, and you think a dryer will get out the teeth marks you have in your pant legs?" Mito remarked, pulling on the cuff of the bottom of her pants, revealing several marks that were created by Kiba's pup. "Yeah, I didn't think so."

"Wow now, what's all the commotion out here. We're clos-" A voice called from the back as the two trading barbs at one another heard the quickening footsteps of the owner making his way from the back. "Ah, the Uzumaki twins, I should have known! Haha! What brings you two here?!" Chuckled the rotund owner Teuchi, his demanding tone drastically softened when he saw the two.

"Well-" Mito began but her sister seemed to be unwilling to let her speak, or rather, rat her out to one of their families closest friends.

"The rain, we got caught in it before we could make it all the way home so we were hoping if we could use your shop to wait it out," Nami said, trying her best to hide her nervous smirk - a trademark of the blonde.

Teuchi merely shrugged, "Oh, is that all? No problem, pull up a chair. I've got some tea brewing in the back, I'll pour you a cup." He said, motioning for the two teens to take up a spot on one of the stools that dotted the front of his restaurant.

Jumping at his hospitality Nami got herself comfortable on the center stool while her twin took the one next to her. "And, since we're here, hit me with a bowl of Pork Ramen please," She proclaimed, tapping the hardwood top with her nails in a playful manner.

Teuchi only smiled and replied with, "sure, do you have the money to pay for it?"

This seemed to catch Nami off guard, causing her to respond with a nervous rattle, "...Teuchi, buddy, don't worry about it. Just put it on my tab!"

"Oh no, no - not this time, sweetheart. Your parents have made if very clear to never let you deal with their tab again, not after last time. So, if you've got money, then you can have as much ramen as your heart desires but if you're broke, I got some free tea - that's all you'll get for now." He explained which seemed to burrow under Nami's skin - especially seeing as her sister was snickering over this.

With a sigh, Nami responded with a curt, "...fine, I wasn't that hungry anyway,"

"That's more like it," Teuchi snickered, "how about you, Mito-san. Would you like some tea?"

"Yes please, with a splash of honey if you have any." Mito nodded, flashing the owner a small but sweet smile for his offer.

"_With a little splash of honey if you have any_" Her sister mocked, scrunching her chubby little face into a sneer only for her elder sister of 5 minutes to deal her a swift kick to the side of her calf - the exact place she was bitten at least 5 times by a rather hyperactive puppy. "Ouch! You did that on purpose," she hissed, shooting her sister a glare only for her to match it in intensity.

"Serves you right for getting my clothes wet," Mito replied

Nami fired back with, "oh suck it up, I said I was sorry."

"You did not!"

"I was, but then you kicked me!" As the two continued their childish back and forth A loud crash could be heard from the back followed by a slew of words that both Nami and Mito were unfamiliar with but, from the way they were said, could tell were those "adult words" their mother and father told them they couldn't use.

Jumping from their stools the girls made their way to the back only to see a hefty black pot fly past the drapes that separated the eating area to the back room as Teuchi screamed "Get outta here you vermin! Go on, run!" Rushing to his aid with nothing more than childlike curiosity, Mito and Nami burst through the drapes as they were greeted to a rather unusual sight. On his hands and knees rested one of the most respected returauntors of Konoha running his hand under one of his metal prep tables, trying to grab something seemingly out of reach and unwilling to cooperate with the man in question. His back area was a mess; pots, pan, knives, ladles, mixers, pre-prepared meats, vegetables and broth - all of this and more dotted the floor with reckless abandon. However, hidden under the kitchen utensils that littered the floor was a set of muddy paw tracks that winds its way back and forth between the mess until it ended right under the prep station in question.

"Wow, Teuchi-san, what happened here? It looks like a cyclone tore through here." The blonde remarked, scanning the room's devastation with an open mouth. "Is this what you usually do when making tea?"

"You're humor isn't needed right now, Nami! I came back here to prepare your cups and to snag my special tea blend I keep in the pantry only to find a sneaky little weasel rummaging through my freshly purchased pork!" Teuchi barked, struggling on his hands and knees to capture this supposed 'weasel' he was talking about.

Nami cocked a brow to this, "A weasel? Why on earth would a weasel be eating your pork?"

"It's a figure of speech, it's not a weasel, it's a fox!" Teuchi exclaimed

"A fox?! That raises even more questions," Mito said, puzzled by such a strange creature's presence this far into their village.

"Yeah, like how did this fluff ball make his way into your backroom?" Asked the blonde, craning her neck sideways to see if she could assess where this creature was under the countertop.

"It could have snuck in like you two did, through the open door. Shocking, I know." Teuchi commented, trying his best to get a look at the thing in hopes of securing its capture. "Damn thing, get over here or so help me I'll - AH!" Teuchi yelled, pulling his hand back to reveal a punctured palm, apparently, the little fluff ball had decided to go on the offensive, chomping down on his attacker's hand with his small yet quite sharp teeth before making his move towards the exit, slipping past the Uzumaki twins with relative ease.

The creature in question had beautiful red fur, or rather, it would if not for the mud, dirt and possible blood that matted it from snout to tail. Because of this mangy look, the fox's wounds were also quite visible, scars peppered the poor thing's small frame, indicating that this fox has experienced quite a lot of danger in his lifetime. As the fox uses its slender frame and agility to pounce to the top of the cast iron flat top/counter of Ichiraku Ramen a ladle cracked it across the back, knocking it off balance and sending it stumbling into the stools bellow.

"Teuchi-san!" Nami yelled, shocking both her sister and the restaurant owner who, at this time, was nursing his hand. "Why would you do that?"

"Why? The bastard bit me, that's why," he muttered, using his apron as a makeshift rag to catch the drops of blood leaving his wound.

His answer didn't seem to sooth Nami's fury, "could you not tell it was hurt and afraid? You scared it!"

"Nami-chan, calm down - it's just a fox," Mito remarked, trying her best to calm down her animal-loving sister in hopes of keeping the peace.

"It's a living creature, would you want someone to say that about you or I?" Nami questioned but left before her sister had any time to answer, circling the flat top to see if the poor fox was still there only to see it's white-tipped tail disappear outside. Not one to think before her actions, Nami burst from the restaurant into the pouring rain after the would-be fox, her sister quickly on her tail after giving Teuchi a humble apology.

"Kids, they're hearts can be too big for their own good," Teuchi muttered as he watched the two leave. "Hmmm, I'm gonna need some help cleaning this up…..Ayame, dear! Can you come down here, papa needs some help!"

**-1 Hour Later-**

"Nami!" Mito yelled, peering into another dingy alleyway in hopes of spotting her sister. During this wild goose chase, Mito had, for a moment, lost her sister in the sea of pouring rain - her cries to her sister to slow down or stop were muffled under the sheets of rain pelting the streets - leaving her cold, wet and very much alone. Looking through the unholy rainfall Mito samized that she was nearing an unexplored area of Konoha that she or her sister haven't had the time or authority to explore, illustrated by the massive fence that separates her from her destination.

_Training Grounds #44: The Forest of Death_

She recalled her mother and father talking about this place, a dangerous place filled to the brim with creatures you couldn't possibly imagine - this couldn't be the place her sister went to, she must have been mistaken, right? "_Wait, do I see…"_ she thought as she looked below to find a small gap made from where the fence and ground should meet. Gripped within the sharp ends of the chain link fence was a piece of fabric, a piece that seemed all too familiar to Mito. "_Of course you'd be dumb enough to enter a forbidden area for an animal,"_ Mito sighed before lowering herself to the hole in the fence and forcing herself through, muddying her new clothing in the process. "_You owe me, Nami. You owe me big time!"_

Wiping off the cold muck as much as she could, Mito continued her search through this forest of death, softly calling to her sister in hopes of getting her attention and her alone. Minutes began to pass as Mito went deeper and deeper into the maze-like forest with no sign of her sister anywhere. "NAMI!" She yelled, her previous somber voice now giving way to panic and fear as the sound of rain and thunder grew into the snarls of hidden beast waiting for her defenses to be dropped. She began to question her intelligence, why on earth would she go into this walled-off area alone? She could have gotten her mother or father to find Nami and be done with it but for some reason, she felt a responsibility to continue forward, a foolish feeling but a feeling nonetheless.

She paused in a large clearing as she took in her surroundings in hopes of catching a glimpse of who she was looking for, her efforts growing more and more in vain as the mixture of the heavy canopy above and the dark storm clouds had taken almost all of her visibility. "NAM-" She went to scream once more only to feel a body collide with her from behind, sending her to the ground with a hefty thud, the body now resting on top of her own.

She went straight for the attack, slipping her hand behind her to grasp at her kunai pouch only to feel the body on top of her grab her by the wrist and before she could contest this show of force, a subtle yet trembling voice whispered in her ear.

"M-Mito, i-it's me….we need to...w-we need to m-move, now!" Mito dared a peek behind her to find the terrified visage of her sister, her face covered in mud and tears. As Mito went to speak she could feel a trimmer shoot through the ground and her body, such forceful steps came from the direction that her sister seemed to have run from, causing the eldest heart to sink into the pit of her stomach. Scrambling to their feet as fast as their bodies could let them, Mito and Nami ran towards the row of trees directly ahead only to find themselves in a bit of a predicament. The closer the got the more they noticed that the treeline was slowly shifting into a downward slope; growing stepper and stepper the more that came into view. They had a choice, take their chances with whatever Nami saw back there or...hope to god this thing wouldn't follow them past this hill.

"What was that back there?" Mito asked, still processing everything that has happened.

Nami's eyes were still wide with fear, darting back and forth from what rested behind them to what laid in front of them, "A-A bear….a really, really big bear."

Her answer, though fair, still didn't satisfy her spooked sibling as questions continued to pop up that needed answering. "What happened? Why did you run away from me? Why couldn't you have just waited-"

"Not now, this isn't the time to...t-to…" Her blonde sister began but trailed off, her body now racked with a convulsive shiver that left her speechless.

"Nami?' Mito asked, following her sister's line of sight to over her shoulder, "Nami, what's wro-" she began only to come face to face with something she wished she hadn't. "...Oh my….GOD!" Mito screamed as she looked back to find a rather large black silhouette standing on the edge of the tree line they stood moments ago, it's black, soulless eyes gazing deeply towards them. A crack of lightning rang through the heavens, illuminating their position for only a moment as if god himself wanted them to see what creature has come for them. Before them stood a hefty bear, it's fur matted with fresh blood and mud - one of its eyes seemingly gouged from its socket. A thick growl left it's maw as the creature began towards the treeline the girls stood within before shoving itself past the two standing trees in an attempt to reach its target.

"Mito, move!" Nami cried, pulling her sister back just in time to be missed by the creature's massive paw slashing at the ground she stood at. The tight rows of trees that surrounded them made it difficult for the creature to continue forward, it's massive frame being sandwiched between the trees it supposedly tried to push past mere moments ago - giving it only a few options to continue forward. The beast roared before bashing its frame against the trees that blocked it, shaking them to their very roots as they slowly derooted themselves from their spots. Nami grabbed hold of her stunned sister once more before trying to go deeper into the woods only to find that they were standing near a ledge, one that overlooked the ever-expansive Training grounds #44. "Oh no, no, no! We're trapped!" She yelled, looking back to see the piercing stare of the bear growing ever closer, inch by inch.

"S-Stay behind me," Mito whimpered, her voice dripped with fear yet, in one shakingly swift motion, she pulled a kunai from her pouch and tossed it straight towards the bear's snout. Though her aim seemed to be true the bear's mad flailing caused the kunai to connect not on the snout of the creature but on its fur-covered forearm, causing the beast to snarl in mild discomfort.

"That was your plan?! Throwing kunai?" Nami exclaimed before taking another step back as she can see the bear gaining more ground the more it thrashed and toppled the foliage around it. As they watched in fear as the beast grew ever closer, the girl's solid ground grew ever smaller - causing Nami's footing to slip, "Ahhhh!" She cried as she fell from the cliff they stood on, or rather - she would have if not for her sister's quick turn to save her.

"H-Hold on, Nami! Hold on!" She screeched, her free hand dug deep into the soft soil that surrounded them in hopes to keep her position. As the twins struggled to keep their ground along with keeping their lives the bear continued on its warpath, now a foot from them and chomping at the bit to get them - however, as it was prepared to finally break through the exterior treeline it felt a piercing pain corse through its back leg. The beast let out a mighty roar as it turned to face this possible new threat only to see a mirror of itself except with fiery red fur instead of it's blackened one. The doppelganger's maw was latched onto its hind paw, gnawing at it like a wild beast before snapping backward, pulling the beast back towards the open field and away from the ledge or, more importantly, the two girls.

"W-What's going on?!" Nami asked, terrified by the cluster of strange yet aggressive sounds coming from behind her sister. Nami struggled to find a place for a foothold, the rocky surface she was faced with was to slick from the rain to help her at this moment.

"I-I don't know, b-but whatever it is, it's bought us some time," Mito muttered back, pulling with all her might in hopes of getting her sister back from the brink - but the moisture building on her hands and her exhaustion almost caused her to drop her sister to her doom - it was only thanks to Nami's quick thinking of swinging her other arm around to grip the ledge that this didn't happen.

While the girls continued with their crisis, a battle began between the two massive beasts, trading powerful blow with one another as lightning clapped overhead, their visage illuminated only for a moment before they returned to their nocturnal brawl. Charging the bloodied black bear, the red one shoved it harshly against the forest-lined arena they resided in, knocking loose a few branches and limbs on top of each other. Groggy, the black beast lashed out at whatever it could grab hold of, that being the red bears left front thigh, sinking its teeth deep into its flesh before whipping is muzzle back and forth, shredding the skin underneath the fur. With a roar the red bear retaliated, sinking its teeth into the open nape of its neck before wrenching backward, pulling the bear off of his thigh before, with great strength, tossing the beast to the center of an open field.

They continued with their back and forth struggle, neither seeming to gain a form of upper-hand, merely mindlessly and viciously beating one another with little remorse for the other. That is what graced the Uzumaki twins once they could pull themselves back to the top of the ledge. Watching the battle continues from a distance, the two were shocked at the brutality of the battle seemed to be - their already matted furs were now slick with rainwater and blood, chunks of flesh had been ripped from them before being thrown to the ground like it was nothing - this wasn't something children should be subjected to see. However, the fierce nature of such a battle could only last for so long, soon enough the two had run out of steam and, more importantly, blood to continue with the pace the originally had - leaving them both sluggishly pawing at one another. However, time was not on the red bear's side as his hind legs gave out, giving his opponent an opening he needed. Rushing the stumbled red behemoth, the black bear slammed into its target, toppling it into the trees surrounding them with a hefty thud - releasing only a pitiful whimper in response.

"S-Something's wrong," Nami spoke, inching closer towards the fight as she examined the scene laid out before her, something her sister was not too thrilled to see happening.

"What on earth are you doing?! Get back here before it sees us!" Mito hissed softly, grabbing her sister's wrist to stop her slow movement towards certain death.

Her sister didn't take kindly to that, trying to snatch her hand away only for Mito's grip to hold firm, "no, something isn't right, the beast is hurt!"

"Of course it is, they both were pummelling each other not five seconds ago!" Mito barked back, getting a quick glimpse of the brutality caused by these two as a flash of lightning cracked overhead.

Nami shook her head as she pointed to the battling duo, "not just that, look! It has other wounds on its body, one's not made from this fight - it's already weakened!" As their eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkened forest Mito noticed the exterior wounds on the beast - didn't look fresh, maybe something he got a day or two ago - meaning this beast had decided to throw it's weakened body in between the two. Strange? Yes. Does it matter? Not even a little bit to Mito.

"And?! It's a beast that roams around one of the most dangerous training grounds in Konohagakure, of course, it's going to end up with a few wounds and scars." Said the redhead as she found the creature's wounds inconsequential to the problem they are facing at the moment.

Nami merely fired back with an impassioned, "w-we can't just leave it here, it'll die!"

"Then let it," Mito hated to be so heartless to another living creature but this was a matter of who lived and who died - if they slip up for even a second their lives will be forfeit. "Nami, I know you care for animals but this isn't something we shouldn't fight against! They're animals, this is what they do!"

"No, he saved us! I won't let him be eaten for sticking his neck out for us,"

This is where Mito finally snapped, yelling, "SAVED?! Have you completely lost your mind?! It's a mindless animal that is driven by nothing more than instinct, it didn't _save_ us! It decided to pick a fight with something and found out that its eyes were bigger than it's stomach! Let nature happen!"

"You're not listening, why would a wounded animal pick a fight like that?!" Nami asked, of course, her sister didn't have an answer to combat such a strange remark. "They wouldn't unless there's a reason behind it!"

"And you believe that reason is that he wanted to _save_ us? That's insane," was all her sister could ask, but Nami didn't seem to wish to answer - merely responding with a *huff* before storming off towards the feral brawl. "Oh no, no, no! Where do you think you're going, Nami!" She yelled, grabbing her sister by the collar of her jacket.

"Let me go!" Nami tried her best to pry her sister off of her but she couldn't, even trying to slip out of her jacket but it would seem her sister was one step ahead of her, gripping her by the waist and keeping her in place.

"Not until you give me a reason too," Mito yelled, her voice far more firm than dismissive - unwilling to waiver her ground unless her sister was able to tell her anything.

A silence grew between the two, "...Y-You're gonna think I'm nuts,"

"I already do, but at least now I'll have a good reason to think so." She said, releasing her twin in hopes of finding out why on earth she seemed so adamant in protecting the beast.

Letting out a sigh Nami built up the courage to speak her mind, starting with "...That bear….I think it's the fox I chased after earlier,"

Mito was, for lack of a better word, stunned by her sister's remark. How do you respond to such a thing? "...Y-Yeah, you're right...you are nuts,"

"Look, if you're not going to take me serio-" however, the children's bickering was cut short once the pained roars of the red bear caught their attention. They turned to see their supposed savior now trying pitifully to defend himself from his attack, pawing at the bear's encroaching maw and it's rows of sharp teeth. However, his weak attempt was ended when the bear in question chomped down onto the red bear's outstretched paw, bringing forth another roar of pain from his downed opponent. Releasing the damaged limb from its mouth, the black bear continued it's assault, preparing to rip the throat out of this mimic before moving on to his true targets.

Naturally panicked by this display, Mito reached for her sister, knowing all too well what her plan might be but she was too late, seeing as when she reached she found nothing but air as her sister took off towards the direction of the bear. "No, no, no! Not again! Nami-chan!"

"Don't get in my way, Mito - I won't let this go on any longer!" Nami cried, darting headlong into the trees and foliage that separated the twins from their utter demise - something seemingly lost on the blonde. Diving out of the foliage with ease, Nami brandished two kunais before aiming them straight towards the bear's nearest weakness, a large gash on its side. Once making contact the beast growled in retaliation, turning to face this neucency before finishing off its true threat.

"Come on!" Nami yelled, narrowly dodging the bear's paw coming down hard against the slick forest floor - however, before she could get to her feet she was set upon by its other paw, clawing at her with the intent to kill. Rolling to the side, she dodged the bear's claw just in the nick of time with only a ripped jacket to show for it.

Going for her pouch once more, she found three shurikens and was prepared to throw them but was too late to even attempt such a thing - even with the bear's ample wounds, he was far beyond Nami's pitiful reaction time. Ripping through the dirt and grim the bear's swing nearly decapitated the young blonde, sending her flying by sheer force alone, landing her harshly against an adjacent stump.

"NAMI!" Mito cried, Charging forth like her sister before her, only this time armed with something a bit more devastating than a simple tool. Tossing it at the beast bearing down on her semi-conscious sister, once it made contact with its damp fur it unleashed it's payload, exploding in a ball of flames, roasting the beast's neck. The bear stumbled back in pain giving Mito enough time to rush to her sister's aid who, at the moment, wasn't in the best of shape. "Nami, please! Please tell me you're okay, come on!"

"M-Mito-chan?...W-What are you doing here?" She whimpered, clearly knocked for a loop but otherwise alive.

"Oh, thank the gods you're alive!" While Mito cheered that her sister was still breathing she noticed Nami was trying her best to get to her feet once again. "Hey, take it easy! You took a pretty nasty hit,"

"I-I'm fine, just a bit….dazed..w-where's the bear?" Nami asked, scanning the scene to find their enemy in question.

"I think I scared him off with an explosion tag," Mito remarked.

Nami shot her sister a semi-harsh glare, "y-you had an e-explosion tag on you and you decided to us it now?"

"First off don't even, not now! You're the idiot who ran in blindly without giving me a second to respond," Mito didn't take too kindly to her sister's tone. "And second, that was my only one, I had to make sure it hits. Kaa-chan has been teaching me a few tricks about seals during our off days, this was the first one she taught me."

"O-Of course, you always learn the c-cool stuff first," she lightly chuckled.

Mito only shook her head in response, "we can argue about that later, let's go. I don't think my attack will stall him for lon-"

"DUCK!" Nami cried, pushing her sister to the ground to narrowly avoid a heavy strike towards their previous location, knocking the stump Nami rested against clean from its perch. In fact, Mito's statement was true, her attack merely dazed the beast but not enough to give them an advantage, the bear quickly turned back towards his meal with ravenous abandoned. However, before the beast could continue forward with its snack it was sideswiped by its forgotten foe, slamming it's hefty hid into it, knocking it off balance before the red-furred savior took hold of the bear's neck with its mighty jaw and biting down with a vengeance. "Run!" Without a second to spare, Nami jumped to her feet with her sister in toe and booked it passed the wrestling beasts, just in time to dodge the flailing form of the black one who, at the moment, was trying everything to break free of it's captures grip.

Now, strangely enough, this is when things started to take a turn towards the….bizarre.

While the red bear still had its hold on his target his body began to change, it's fur gave way to glorious red scales that shimmered in the moonlit night, it's black, soulless eyes shifted into yellow, beady slits and, stranger still - its body shifted from that of a massive red bear into an equally sized python! Once the shift was complete, the serpent wrapped itself around the bear's body and tightened its grip, slowly choking the very life from the bear. It fought against it, bashing the snake against the trees, trying to claw at it's exposed body and even crashing to the floor and began to roll - but none of it seemed to work as the bear slowly gave in to the serpent's unbreakable hold, collapsing in the center of the forest now dead.

To say Mito was stunned would be a massive understatement, "w-what….what on earth d-d-did I just see?"

"What I tried to tell you," Nami muttered under her breath, still nursing her slightly tweaked shoulder as she looked upon the scene with a more apathetic gaze than her twin. "T-This bear, well...n-now snake...it's the fox at Ichiraku Ramen!"

"...Wh-...Ho-...Huh?!" Was all Mito could respond with.

"I know, I-I kinda didn't believe it either… not until I saw it transform into a bird when it entered the alleyway." The blonde began, "and then into a small ape to traverse the trees in the Training Grounds….a-and then into the bear that saved my life...twice now," As she spoke, the python in question began to unravel itself from around the dead beast before shifting once again into another creature, this time the fox Nami was speaking of.

Mito could only shake her head in abject confusion, "...a-alright, I-I-I….I don't know what to say,"

"Well, for starters you could say...oh, I don't know, "you were right, Nami-chan! I'm so sorry I called you a nut earlier! You're the best sister I could ever ask for!" something like that would be good right about now," of course, even as they stand in the wet, vicious jungle of the forest of death her sister must feel vindicated no matter the area.

Her red-headed twin only returned her comment with a pair of rolling eyes before giving a short, "...yeah, I don't think so...though, I will say I'm sorry for earlier."

"Aw, apology accepted!" Nami snickered, patting her sister on the back _hard_ only for her sister to shoot her a surprisingly harsh glare. "...What?"

"Aren't you going to apologize?" Mito asked

That question seemed to incense her sister, "for what?!"

"Oh, I don't know - making me run after you for over an hour, making me enter into a _restricted_ area, refusing to listen to me for a single second, nearly getting both of us killed by a feral bear and….oh god," She began to list only for a sudden look of realization to wash across her features.

Her sister picked up on this, "what?"

"Kaa-chan and Tou-san," she muttered, "they were expecting us to be home an hour ago! Oh god, Tou-san must have half of the entire village out looking for us and I don't want to imagine what Kaa-chan will do to us when she finds us! And in completely ruined school outfits no less!"

But Nami didn't seem to share the same panic, merely throwing an arm around her sister's shoulders before proclaiming, "seriously, you need to lighten up! Everything's going to be fine,"

"You _always_ say that and you're never right," As the two continue to bicker as they tend to do, they seem to forget about their furred companion - something that didn't bother him in the slightest as he decided it was best for him to leave them to their own devices...that is, if his body would allow him to do so. Just as he started to make his way out of the field, his legs gave out on him once more, leaving him sprawled out on the floor, whimpering from the pain his adrenaline numbed him of. "What's wrong with him," Mito spoke, catching her sister's attention who cased her gaze towards the crumpled heap that was their little savior.

Taking off towards him, Nami quickly found the cause of his supposed collapse, "He must be losing too much blood - we need to find a way out of here." She spoke, Ripping off her orange jacket to wrap around the poor creature. At first, the fox protested this with a hiss, trying to put up some sort of fight only for his fatigue to keep him docile. "Do you remember where the exit is?"

"I-I think so, follow me," Mito ordered, taking lead as the two started to make their way towards the exit, or at least in the direction Mito _thought_ the exit might be. As minutes began to pass the two found themselves in an unknown area of the training grounds which, in all honesty, wasn't too hard to find seeing as the place seemed to have the same look and feel no matter where you went.

"Mito….where's the way out?" Nami asked as she could tell by her twin's spastic pacing that she might not have been the best to lead.

"H-Hold your horses, it should be...umm," Mito responded, trying to process the area in hopes of finding her bearings, a fruitless effort I might add. " it's….i-it's...oh god, I don't know where we are,"

"WHAT?!" Was Nami's response

"Don't get mad at me, how on earth do you expect me to remember?! I've never been here before," Mito fired back, shooting her sister a seering looking only to notice her attention was more focused on her back than her steely gaze. "What, why are you staring at me like that?!"

"M-Mito?"

"Hey, what is it?"

"You're back...it's glowing,"

"Hmm?" She questioned, peering over her shoulder to see what her sister was blathering about - and, for once, she was telling the truth! A faint yet distinct yellow glow was radiating off of her jacket, something she can say with certainty has never happened before. "W-What is tha-?" however, her question was silence with a flash of bright light as a figure appeared before them, a rather tall man with spiked blonde hair, blue eyes, and a stern grimace.

"T-T-Tou-san!"

"Mito, Nami - you're in a world of trouble,"

**-Inuzuka Household: 2 Hours Later-**

The Uzumaki family, sans Minato, found themselves standing before the Inuzuka compound with Kushina being the first to knock on the door while her daughters stood behind her, their expressions spoke for them as they both looked downtrodden and miserable. The door soon flung wide to reveal the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan, Tsume Inuzuka who greeted Kushina with open arms and a toothy grin, "Kushina-chan! Welcome, welcome!" She howled, bringing her redheaded friend into a tight embrace. "I knew the second your husband showed up you wouldn't be far behind. Come on in,"

"It's always a pleasure to see you, Tsume-chan! I wish it was under better circumstances," Kushina said, squeezing tightly against her childhood friend before allowing herself to return to her more serious demeanor. If given the option Kushina would more than wish to stay her usual laid back self with her friend but at the moment she needed to be stern. So, with that, she lightly gripped her child's shoulder and brought her before the matriarch of the Inuzuka clan. "I believe it is time, Nami-chan."

**-Flashback-**

_The atmosphere that hung over the Namikaze household was, to say the least, suffocating as the two soon to be kunoichi who reside in this home are now staring face to face with its matriarch, Kushina Uzumaki. A visible scowl etched her features as she sat before her two children, arms crossed under her chest as she glared deeply towards her still dampened children. "Getting in a fight with a fellow student on your first day back at the academy, not following our specific instructions to return home after class was dismissed, entering a restricted area and, worst of all, this was all done for the sake of a random animal you just found….did I get all that right?"_

"_H-Hai Kaa-chan," Mito agreed, bowing her head slightly in hopes of avoiding her mother's steely gaze. Looking to her sister, she found that Nami didn't seem too willing to do the same, the look of hesitation in her eyes told her all she needed to hear. _

"_Y-Yes Kaa-chan, b-but...what about-" _

_But her mother was one step ahead of her, "the fox? Don't worry, your father is taking it to the Inuzuka compound where it will be treated and we will be going to their quite soon for your to apologize to the Inuzuka boy, am I understood?" _

"_But Kaa-chan!" Nami was prepared to retort._

"_Don't you even try to talk your way out of this, young lady! I don't care what he was doing, you gave him a bloody nose! If I didn't know his mother this would have looked far worse for all involved!" She was incensed by her daughter's outright inability to see what she had done was not a defensible action. "Think of the rumors that would have been spread if not for your father and I's quick thinking?!"_

"_Why does it matter," she mumbled under her breath, slouching in her chair with a seemingly permanent scowl on her face._

_This seemed to strike a chord in the young matriarch, "excuse me, what did you just say?" _

"_I said why does it matter!? Kiba is a jerk who thinks it's funny to hurt other animals because he thinks of himself as some kind of 'alpha'! I wasn't going to stand by and let him do that," Nami jumped to her feet this time, pushing herself forward to proclaim her case as loudly and proudly as possible - an action that her sister knew all too well was a terrible, terrible mistake. _

"_What gives you the right to assault someone, Nami?!" Kushina slammed her hands against the counter that sat between her and her daughters. "You could have taken this to Iruka-sensei or another adult within the academy but no, you decided that you needed to take it into your own hands and hurt another child! You are the eldest of the Uzumaki and Namikaze clan, you need to show more control over your emotions!" She outright demanded as she could tell the supposed vigor her daughter had mere moments ago was weining under her mother's more intense gaze. "Everything we do now is a reflection of your father thanks to his new promotion to Hokage - we cannot allow ourselves to become more stress for him, I won't allow it! So, we will march down to the Izusuka compound and you will apologize to Kiba, do I make myself clear?" _

_That wasn't something she wanted to hear, she couldn't bare the thought of walking into the compound with her tail between her legs and begging forgiveness from that mutt of a boy, so she merely stood silent, "..."_

"_Nami," _

"_H-Hai,"_

**-Flashback Over-**

And here we are, the Inuzuka family on one side of the living room and the Uzumaki on the other, Kiba has found himself a shit-eating grin to wear as he watched as the girl who gave him the same black eye he was sporting bowed before him.

"I-I, Nami Uzumaki Namikaze, apologize for my brash actions this morning at the academy." She hissed out as sweetly as she could without vomiting, she felt so humiliated, so taken down that she'd rather fight a thousand murderous bears in the forest of death than to do this again...but, thankfully, she had done what she was told.

"Oh, such formality, if only that was there this morning before you sucker-punched me." Kiba chuckled only to be silenced by a slap to the back of the head by his mother, getting a slight chuckle from Nami. "Ow, what the heck, Kaa-chan?!"

"Stop being a little brat, Kiba! Accept her apology so we can move on from this," remarked Tsume with all the grace and clarity of an Inuzuka would.

Kiba seemed confused by his mother's quick shift in sides, responding with, "why should I? She nearly broke my nose!"

"You're being overdramatic, your nose wasn't even that bloody. Maybe one or two drops at the most," she rolled her eyes, getting a light giggle from Nami which was quickly stifled by her mother's elbow to her rib.

"Why are you on her side, she hit me!?" Kiba demanded to know as he glared daggers between his mother and the girl who kicked his ass.

His answer was soon granted but, with hindsight, he might have regretted asking for it. "You're training to be a shinobi, you shouldn't be so up in arms over a punch. Besides, I was informed by Izuka-sensei that you have been seen on numerous occasions letting Akamaru run rampant throughout the school, including harming local animals around the school."

"...K-K-Kaa-chan, I can explain,"

"Oh no, I don't think you can," she cooed softly, though her vicious glare gave a different intent as she grabbed her son by the scruff of his neck and started to drag him towards his room. "Now, if you'll excuse us, I have some discipline to dish out of my own. Stay for as long as you wish, my house is yours."

"K-Kaa-chan please, please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He begged but it didn't seem to do any good as he lets out one final scream before he vanished into the other side of the compound, leaving the Uzumaki's to themselves.

"Man, Tsume-chan has still got it." Kushina chuckled, "In her prime, she could make grown shinobi quiver in fear with that stare,"

"Humph serves him right," Nami grumbled, still a bit miffed about everything before a thought came to mind. "Wait, if you two knew about this then why did you-"

But before she could fully form her query her mother was prepared with the answer, "you were both wrong for what you did, we thought it would be appropriate for both of you to be punished."

"O-Oh...so saying sorry was mine?" She asked, her voice now dripping with hope as she recalled what Kiba had in store for him.

"Of course not," Kushina merely laughed, shattering her daughter's hopes in record time. "You're grounded for a week for dragging your sister along with your crazy adventure, dirtying the new clothing I bought for you two and scaring your father and I half to death. This was only a part of your punishment,"

"What?! How is that fair, I didn't ask for Mito to follow me." She remarked, pointing to her sister who, at the moment, has been busy reading through a book she had brought from home to keep her entertained.

"That's not the point and you know it, now quit arguing with me before I change my mind from one week to a month!" Nami was prepared to fire back with another illy-thought out retort only to stop once she heard the sound of a pained 'yip' from down the hall, an all too familiar sound. "Well, I suppose we should go check on your furry friend, huh?"

Her eyes lit up, "really?" She asked as all of the aggression she had over her punishment seemed to vanish.

"Well, you went through this much trouble for it, I guess we should see it through to the end." Instinctively following the sound the family made their way towards the veterinarian area in the Inuzuka compound, a place that has pioneered the health and safety of animals, something that has earned the Inuzuka's their prestige along with their companionship with their ninken. Rounding the corner of the vet's entrance Nami found her father standing next to an operating table of sorts, on top of it laid her savior of the night, a crimson fox now bandaged to keep his wounds from getting worse.

"Tou-san, i-is he going to be okay?" Nami asked, finding herself drawn to the fox's side as he tilted his head towards her, his nose twitches at the arrival of both new and familiar scents.

"I believe that would be best answered by our veterinarian,"

"Please, Hokage-sama, call me Akita." The newly introduced vet spoke who wore a simple lab coat which offset her wild hair which, for an Inuzuka seems to be a staple of, along with her animalistic eyes. "And to answer your question the fox at the moment has seen much better days. His wounds are quite severe, some look to be dating back a few weeks; he also seems rather malnourished and dehydrated. If it wasn't for you bringing him here I don't believe he would have lasted another day or two," she remarked, taking a moment to read over her notes to the girl just to give her some clarity of what this creature has gone through. "If you don't mind me asking Nami, what exactly happened to him?"

"U-Ummm," this wasn't something Nami had planned for. What does she do? Tell this room full of adults about this shape-shifting forest creature they just found? Watch them call them deranged and insane as Mito did in the forest? The only reason she took back what she said was because she SAW it with her own two eyes and she wasn't expecting this poor little fox to be shapeshifting any time soon. So….I suppose the best thing she could do was try to come up with something, "well, it was raining and we stopped at Ichiraku's to escape the downpour. In the back Teuchi found him rummaging through his garbage and tried to catch him but it defended itself and ran into the Forest of Death. I wanted to make sure he was okay so I kinda ran after him and...w-well-"

"We found him in the middle of the woods badly injured, being stocked by a bear." Mito interrupted, giving her sister a faint nod in conformation. "W-We scared it off with a few well throws of our kunai but we got turned around and we kinda got lost in there,"

Minato shook his head at this, "that's why it is called forbidden, Nami and Mito. You're not even close to being ready to enter such a place," he was proud his children were willing to do what was right for this animal but risking life and limb for something like that is just foolish.

"Challenging a bear is not what I'd call a smart idea, it could have been feral or even protecting its young. If it were it would have taken your attacks seriously and you would have been torn to shreds," Akita said, knowing all too well how fast an agitated beast can go from scared to on the offensive in a matter of moments - it's one of the Inuzuka's many teachings.

"H-Hai, we're so sorry for what we did tonight. We didn't mean to scare anyone,"

The Hokage sighed, before placing a hand on both of his children's shoulders - allowing his stern Hokage facade to fall for just a moment to allow his children to have a moment of care, "...I cannot say what you two did was acceptable...but right now all I care about is that you two are safe." He embraced the two which they replicated, squeezing their father tightly with gusto which brought a smile to Kushina's features. As this touching moment played out the fox rested his muzzle on the side of the table, peering over the lip of it to get a closer look of the family that caught the eye of the vet Akita.

"Well well, it looks like someone's curious." She chuckled, watching the fox be renewed with enough energy to begin flicking its tail, observing the family with gusto, his eyes switch from one family member to the next almost as if he was trying to analyze them.

"Is he stable?" Nami asked as she inched closer to the curious creature, something that wasn't met with much resistance from it.

"At the moment, yes but he is still quite weak. It will take a few weeks before I believe he will be back to full health," Akita remarked though her statement didn't seem to keep the eldest of the two kunoichis at bay. "Nami-san, I would advise you to keep your distance. He's still a wild animal, they can be unpredictable when injur-" but, as Nami has proven today, she wasn't too good at listening to others. Now inches from the fox, Nami outstretched her hand and proceeded to pet it's matted fur, much to the shock of Akita and her family. However, what shocked them most was the fox's enjoyment at the contact, rubbing it's head deeper into her palm as if to somehow fuse itself with her. "Well, now that's ... different,"

Nami giggled as she started to scratch behind the fox's ear which brought about a purr of sorts; it wasn't like a cat's, it was sharper in tone and faster in pace but it made the Uzumaki girl happy to hear. "Hey, I think it likes me,"

"He,"

"Hmm?"

"It's a he," she commented before she noticed the fox's growing fascination with the girl's wrist which looked to be wounded. "Now what is he doing?"

"He must be trying to clean me up, I didn't have a chance of taking a shower before we came here," Nami explained, as the fox licked clean the muck from her wrist to reveal a slightly opened wounded that he had cleaned the blood from. "Aren't you kind," she cooed, but as she went to reach for him again she felt a pulse of chakra course through her body, something that seemed to transfer to the fox if his 'yip' was of any indication.

The room went silent for just a moment but that was all that was needed as three individuals began to feel something spark between them at this very moment. The seals placed on Mito and Nami began to glow a bright, blood-red the seal that held the halves of the most dangerous Bijuu of all of mankind, the Kyuubi! The Nine-Tailed Fox that years ago rampaged through the streets of Konohagakure, killing hundreds and wounding countless more; after being sealed by the late Hiruzen Sarutobi the fox's influence within its vessels had been all but non-existence until today. This aura of red entered the fox, his yellow eyes now glowed brightly as he looked into Nami's eyes which mirrored that of the Kyuubi's slitted pupils. This transaction lasted for but a moment, something that none of the adults in the room seemed to have noticed, but for those three involved it would come to mean so much more.

Dazed from this burst of chakra Nami stumbled backward, messaging her temples to queal the growing migraine that was to come. "Nami-chan?" Her father questioned, catching his daughter as she stumbled into him, "Is everything okay?"

She gave a simple nod before answering, "h-hey Tou-san, I think...I-I think I'm just….t-tired,"

"S-Same," Mito responded, leaning herself against the doorframe as, just like her sister, her energy seemed to be zapped from her without a second to catch herself.

"I guess you two kinda overworked yourselves today, huh?" Kushina remarked, placing a worried hand on Mito's shoulder.

"Y-You could say that again," They both commented

With that, the Uzumaki family decided it would be best for them to head home. "Well, Akita-san, I believe it's time for us to part. If you can, please keep us informed of the fox's condition."

"I am quite a busy woman but...for you, Hokage-sama, of course."

**-Uzumaki Compound: Nami & Mito's Room-**

"You felt it too, didn't you?" Mito questioned, combing through her hair after her well-deserved shower in hopes of removing the final few knots too stubborn to have gone in her time in the shower. Her sister, on the other hand, has thrown herself against the bed, her mane of wild blonde hair stretched across their shared bed with little care of maintaining it - something that is rather common with the Uzumaki's wild child.

"Felt what?" She lied, placing a hand on her stomach as if to feel for the presence once more only to be disappointed when she felt nothing at all. Was what she felt at the Inuzuka compound actual fatigue or….maybe it was something more, maybe it was the presence of the demon her mother warned her about finally coming to her and her sister. This was not something she wished to think about after all the things she went through today.

"Don't lie to me," fired back Mito, turning from the edge of her side of the bed to face her sister who was still seen tracing her seal on her stomach. "We both felt that pulse of chakra and right afterward we nearly fainted, there's no way that could be a coincidence."

"We both went through a lot today, just like Kaa-chan and Tou-san said. We were exhausted and just didn't realize it," She yawned, shift from a laid-out potion to an upright one, gazing at herself and the back of her sister's head through the mirror on the dresser they shared - hoping that, deep down inside, her sister would let this go...at least for tonight.

Of course, she wouldn't, "but at the same time?"

"I've heard that people who are born at the same time can share special traits of one another," said Nami, maybe being a bit too cheeky for her sister's liking.

"Can you stop it,"

"Stop what?"

"Stop pretending like what happened didn't happen,"

"Why can't you just let it go, Mito?" Nami almost hissed, turning to face her sister out of sheer frustration, "Fine, I felt what you felt, that pulse of chakra but what does that matter? It happened, we're fine now and we can move on."

"You don't think we should tell Kaa-chan or Tou-san about it?" Mito asked, of course, she would bring up her parents - anything that has the faintest whiff of the danger of unknown she thinks it would be best to bring it to their parents.

"Why would we? Nothing bad happened," her twin fired back which, in all honesty, she wasn't lying but she was more than aware of what her mother has said about feeling anything to do with the Kyuubi. "Besides, I'm kinda getting tired of being yelled at all day and you know that's the first thing Kaa-chan will do if we bring it up. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?! You're playing with fire,"." Nami said in a mocking tone, trying to mimic her mother's voice and failing miserably.

Mito chuckled lightly at her sister's imitation, allowing her to relax just a bit about this supposed 'problem'...for maybe a second or two. "I do think we should tell them though," she remarked, much to the dismay of her sister who sighed in frustration.

Nami could only sigh, it was like pulling hair with her, "fine, fine - we'll tell them...in the morning,"

"Nami," Mito knew better than to hold Nami such a flimsy statement.

Her sister merely shrugged, "what? They're probably already asleep, meaning that if we wake them now we'll be in double trouble. Right now I think we should sleep on it and if we still think it's a big deal tomorrow we'll tell them,"

"...Give me your word," Mito demanded, extending her pinky to her sister.

"Of course, I give you my word!" She cheerfully decreed in hopes of putting this behind them, snatching up her sister's pinky in her own. "Now, let's hit the sack! I'm so tired I could sleep for as long as a….crow?"

Mito snickered at such a line, "Crow? I don't think that's how the saying go-,"

"N-No, there's a crow outside our window….a crimson crow," Nami said, pointing towards their window to reveal a bright crimson red crow who, at this very moment, was tapping its beak against the window almost as if he wished to come in.

"What the?" Mito murmured as she grew closer to the bird and mimicked its rhythmic tap against the glass, something the bird repeated yet again. As the wires began to connect in the young girl's mind she looked to her sister with a raised eyebrow, "do you think...it might be...ya know,"

"I mean...we have seen him change into a few things now, I don't think a bird would be out of the question." She shrugged, there wasn't much she knew of their transforming friend so it would be disingenuous to say he could or couldn't transform into anything he wanted to be. "I think we should let him in,"

Mito looked to her sister to disagree but she couldn't be bothered to do so, she merely sighed and said, "Of course you would say that," before lifting the bottom section of her window, giving the bird free range to fly into their room, perching itself on their dresser. Is the fowl sat on its perch, scanning the room with its large, black eyes it began to shapeshift before them. It's feathers shrunk and shifted inwards, giving way to the red fur familiar to the girls, its beck lengthened and shifted from a hardened bone to a soft muzzle with a moist black nose on the tip.

The visage of a crow soon was replaced with the fox of the Forest of Death, his tail swinging in joy as he stared at the two girls - his gazed filled the girls with a wonderful warmth like coming home to a trusted pet, it was strange yet satisfying, to say the least.

"Well hello little guy," Mito cooed as the fox jumped from his spot and landed on the redhead's shoulder, rubbing his body against the back of her head in a show of affection, "what on earth are you doing here? You should be resting right now," as she asked he hopped off her shoulders and ran to Nami's side, slinking through her legs with a playful energy.

"Mito-chan, look at him. He looks brand new," Nami cooed, grabbing hold of the fox as she presented him towards his sister - showing his entire body to both of the Namikaze twins. His once mated and ripped fur was replaced with fluffy and soft crimson follicles as if he was newly birthed. His flesh under his skin still bore his scars but each scar was closed tight, completely different from when they left the fox at the Inuzuka compound. "Do you think that...maybe…"

"Now do you think that feeling we felt was just nothing?" Mito asked, her smug raised brow told the tale of who won this back and forth.

"I-I guess not," Nami relented but couldn't help but pose a simple question."But why?"

Mito could only shrug, there was no answer she could give seeing as she has no real experience with this fox, the Kyuubi or its chakra. "Your guess is as good as mine, I think that's why we should bring this to Kaa-chan and Tou-,"

"Will you quit saying that," Nami interrupted loudly, causing the fox to jump a tad. "As I said, they're asleep and we should be too. This little guy has had a hard day as well as we have, I think we all deserve a nice night of sleep before we get wrung out by Kaa-chan and Tou-san."

Her sister didn't like the way she was being talked to be she knew there was no reasoning with her when she got this way, so she relented, "...Fine, I've done enough argue for one day."

"I couldn't agree more, right little guy?" Nami smiled, scratching the fox under his chin as he purred once more under her touch. Like they said the two decided to head off to bed, Mito on the left, while Nami took up the right as their newly arrived friend, was given a spot dead center of their bed - one of the nicest places this little creature has had the luxury of sleeping on for quite some time. With a light kiss on the head by both girls, the fox and his new roommates turned off the lights and drifted off to sleep, completely unaware of what exactly today did for the three in question.

**Aaaaand Fini! A brand new story I've had cooking in the works right after thanksgiving to thank you all for sticking with me, I know some of the fans that have stuck with me for my other stories were hoping for updates and trust me, they will be coming don't you worry, but I've had this one cooking on the back burner for a bit and I wanted to get it out there and see how the public thought of it. After publishing this the night prior I had to come back in and add this so I could address a thing or two that I forgot to mention in this story, yes Naruto is Beast Boy, I know many of you knew that already but I didn't want anyone to get confused or distracted by it. The harem will be Naruto x Nami Uzuamki x Mito Uzumaki x Sayuri Uchiha at the moment, I don't have any desire in adding any more but if this story has a lot of demand for some new additions I'll consider it. I've always had a special place in my heart for Beast Boy for the original Teen Titans TV show and in the comics when I was growing up and I thought it would be a cool idea to have such an ability in the Naruto world when it comes to the weird and larger than life beast we see on a weekly basis from the manga and anime. So, other than that, please leave a review if you can and PM me with any questions and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Thank you all for your time, Farewell!**


	2. The Morning Of: Chaos in Konoha!

**Chapter 1**

**The Morning Of: Chaos in Konoha!**

**I own Nothing**

The orange glow cast from the setting sun bled through the thin curtains of the Uzumaki Matrich's room, softly illuminating her room with warming yet unwelcome light. The growing sunlight meant that the morning has come, forcing her to deal with the responsibilities she must as a kunoichi of Konohagakure and thus making her leave the comfort of her soothing bed in favor of the harsh world outside. She grumbled, shifting to her right in hopes of snuggling deeper into her husband's side as she typically does when she wakes up but finds his spot empty, a cold sheet is the only thing that greeted her open arms.

She opened her eyes and found her husband to be nowhere in sight, a growing occurrence thanks to a few problems he must face as the leader of his village. The council has called for an audience with him more than 5 times this week, each issuing a problem that would cost Minato hours of his time to queal. Her heart went out to her husband, just like him she desired to be the Hokage as well but found more fulfillment in being a part time Kunoichi and a full time mother. The job is a harsh one, it demands your undivided attention and for you to see the whole village as your family, as your children that you must protect. Kushina would be lying if she said she didn't miss the days before his rise to the office, when he was just "Minato Namikaze, Jounin and loving husband/father" - it was a much less stressful time for everyone involved. As she continued to think about her husband and his absence her senses began to become more aware of her surroundings, noticing the bathroom light was bleeding out from underneath the door along with a trail of steam.

"Minato-kun?" She wondered; maybe she was wrong about her husband's disappearance, maybe he just wanted to take a nice relaxing shower while the water was still nice and hot. As she sat up in her bed an idea began to form in her mind, a rather scandalous one at that. Slinking out of bed she slipped out of her silk nightgown and made her way towards the occupied bathroom. She went to go knock but hesitated, maybe her husband would like a little surprise instead - I bet he wouldn't oppose to a little bit of spontaneity from his wife of all people.

With a wicked smirk, Kushina twisted the knob and went in, getting a nice rush of steam air as she made her way towards the shower itself before making herself known. "Minato-kun~," she cooed, placing her hand against the glass that separates her from her husband. "I was worried the council had called you in again, I hate waking up without you next to me. Speaking of being next to me I believe the girls are still asleep, I wouldn't wish to waste such an opportuni-," as she spoke she slowly slide the shower door open, revealing her bare husband to her….o-or so she thought. Standing mere inches from her was a child, no older than 14, with blood red hair and a body riddled with scars. The boy seemed frozen in place, his hands still atop his head to try and rinse the shampoo from it as his yellow eyes peered towards the matriarch in a mix of fear and confusion.

The boy quickly covered his shame before meekly responding, "H-Hello,"

But his simple statement seemed to fall on deaf ears as an unholy aura arose from Kushina as metaphysical chains began to seep from Kushina's very being, tipped with sharp spear like heads all aimed towards the boy in question. "Who. In. The. Hell. Are. YOU?!"

"P-Please, I can explain,"

**-30 Minutes Later-**

Oi, Mito-chan! Wake up, wake up!"

"Ugh, it's Saturday, Nami! That usually means 'sleep in'!" Mito all but screamed as she tried to bury her face deeper into her pillow in hopes of capturing her fading slumber only to feel her sister yank the covers from their bed. "What do you want?!"

"Where's our little friend?" Nami asked, rummaging through their bed like a madwoman, something that didn't sit well with the resting Mito.

Mito merely groaned and tried her best to scrunch up whatever she could find to cover herself and slip back into her sleep filled dream world. "At 7 in the morning, I couldn't give a crap, Nami-chan! I'm exhausted, let me sleep in peace!"

"But if Kaa-chan and Tou-san catch a wild shape shifting fox in our house who knows what'll happen. Even worse, what if they figure out we let him in?!" Nami said, her solid point now rattling around in Mito's mind.

Her sister was about to retort but only sighed; she hated to admit it but she did have a point if their little guest snuck out of their room in the dead of night and caused some form of mischief throughout the house both Mito and Nami's necks would be on the line. So, with a heavy sigh, Mito slipped from her cozy spot on her bed and followed her sister downstairs in a vague hope of finding the fox before their parents did. They stepped softly down the stairs that lead into the dining area which then lead into the kitchen which is where they got their first clue of where exactly their furry friend was. Looking behind the island that sat in the middle of the kitchen they found a small trail of crumbs and discarded wrappers trailing all the way towards the ajar fridge door, much to their dismay.

"Oh god," Nami murmured, picking up one of the discarded containers to find that the Ichiraku take out stashed in the fridge had now been fully devoured with ease, "we're definitely going to get it for this one."

"It doesn't look like they were ripped open," Mito hummed, looking over the wreckage with a more analytical eye than her worrisome doppelganger. She picked up one of the 'to go' boxes and examined it's exterior, taking in each inch of the plain white packaging, "no rips, no marks - it looked like it was opened normally. That's kinda weird, isn't it Nami?" She pondered but was greeted with nothing more than silence. She looked to her sister only to find her sporadically cleaning up the area around the fridge with a frantic pace, "What are you doing?" she asked with a cocked brow.

The blonde merely continued her cleaning spree with reckless abandon before spouting off a simple answer, "we gotta get rid of the evidence before Kaa-chan and Tou-san find out!"

"Don't you think Kaa-chan will notice once she goes to grab her ramen only for the box to be gone?" Mito asked as she took a seat on top of the island, watching her sister rummage through the disarray with the eyes of an onlooker. "None of this would have been a problem if you had merely-"

Nami whipped a finger towards her sister and with a tilt of her head hissed, "no, no, no! Not another word,"

"Face it, we'll have to come clean sooner or later, might as well be now." Was Mito's retort, which her sister didn't seem to hear as she returned to her frantic cleaning.

"You see, that's your biggest problem; you give up _way_ too easily. I've got a plan," she shot back half heartedly, grabbing the last two Ichiraku boxes and using them for her props for the tale she was about to weave. "We know Kaa-chan usually leaves early Saturday morning to go talk with Mikoto at their favorite tea shop, right? Well, if we're quick enough we can take the boxes and put them back in the fridge as if they were never touched, then when she heads for Mikoto's we go to Ichiraku's and order more. Once we do that, we replace the already empty boxes and nobody's the wiser."

Though Nami looked like she had cracked the code Mito didn't look all that impressed. "...That's a terrible plan,"

"How is it a bad idea? It's practically foolproof!" Barked Nami

With a knowing smirk, Mito hopped from her perch and said, "Well, for starters Ichiraku isn't open on Saturdays or Sundays so...there's that,"

"...W-What?" Nami hummed, "when the hell did that start?!"

"About a month ago, it gives Teuchi and Ayame a two day break seeing as they've been working themselves ragged the past few months. Don't you remember? They told us that the last time we ate there," she asked which was answered with a numbed look.

"...N-No, not really," she muttered, racking her brain for what's next. "Now what do we do?!" But before Mito could respond their attention was drawn upwards as a loud and violent thud rung hollow above them. A muffled voice shortly followed that the two could easily tell was their mother but exactly what she was doing was still a mystery to them as the thuds began to move around the second floor. This sound began to grow in savarity the closer it came to the stairs; it grew just loud enough to where the two could actually make out what exactly their mother was saying and once they did a part of them wished they hadn't. "Get back here you!" and "Don't you run away from me!" and their personal favorite, "How on earth did you get in here anyway!"

Their worst fears had been realized, their shapeshifting friend had found his way into their parent's room and now their mother was trying her damndest to catch it!

"We're screwed," Mito murmured as they heard someone coming down the stairs before instinctively grabbing her sister's hand for comfort, "we're in this together,"

"It was nice knowing you," she whimpered, closing her eyes as she prepared for their mother's coming wrath only to feel a form slap into her, one that felt very wet and uncomfortable. After landing back first onto the linoleum floor, Nami opened her deep blue eyes meet with more animalistic yellow ones that seemed to glare deeply into her soul but her focus didn't seem to be on his eyes, more so his state of dress or, rather, lack there off. Now, prone on top of her was a blushing, naked boy maybe a year or two older than her who was riddled with scars and a heavy, primal look to him from his shaggy red hair to his piercing yellow eyes.

As all three individuals in the kitchen seemed to finally process what was happening neither could hold back their collective screams - one because of the naked boy on top of her and the other because he was terrified of what the lady upstairs would do to him if she saw this! "I-I'm sorry, please, l-l-let me expla-," the boy tried to defend himself only to find a golden chain now wrapped around his midsection before yanking him across the room to come face to face with the red haired demon he wished to escape.

"Oh trust me, you'll explain _everything_ in due time!"

* * *

"Good morning, Hokage-sama,"

"Good morning, Kakashi." Minato hummed, shifting through a few pieces of paper that made up one of the many stacks of folders and dissertations and pamphlets and on and on that decorated the kage's desk, much to his dismay. "I swear, I leave early for one day to find my children and I come back to find my desk overrun with paperwork. I swear, if I didn't know better I'd think the council planned for me to be gone so they could flood me with busy work."

Kakashi chuckled at his teacher's ramblings, "from what you told me about the council I wouldn't put it past them,"

The Hokage smirked, "well, at least someone believes me," before he willed himself back towards the task at hand, though he wished he could continue droning on and on with his growing pupil he knew it wouldn't get them anywhere. "What brings you here today?"

As if he read the Kage's mind Kakashi pulled out a singular scroll and presented to his master, "I've just come to deliver my report, Hokage-sama,"

Placing it on his desk Minato was quick to respond, "Ah, keeping a close eye on the new recruit, correct?" Before cracking it open for a read, giving him the utmost details of the previous mission Kakashi, this new recruit, and two other ANBU members went on to hunt down and assassinate a rogue squad of bandits that were rumored to make their way towards Konoha.

"Hai," Kakashi answered, "So far she's showing great promise. I think within the coming months she'll become a solid ANBU agent."

Looking up from his reading, Minato wondered aloud, "how was her showings in her first mission today?"

"Excellent," was his student's reply, pointing to a particular paragraph towards the bottom of the scroll his master held. "She showed precise movement, followed every order given and didn't hesitate to execute the splinter cell's leader when we were in position."

"Amazing," muttered Minato, looking over the report once more with a smile. "When Yugao Uzuki was selected to join the ANBU I thought we were making a mistake but...I suppose I was wrong."

"Don't take it too harshly, Minato-san," Kakashi chuckled, laying a hand on his master's shoulder. "Even a Kage is allowed to be wrong sometimes,"

The blonde couldn't help but laugh at that, "If you ask my wife, it happens more than just someti-," but before he could finish his joke his door was opened by his secretary, her face written with worry.

"Hokage-sama, your wife had sent a clone with a message!" She declared, "there's a naked pervert parading around your house! She needs you at home ASAP and bring an ANBU squad,"

"What?!" Was all that Minato could remark, trading confused glances between his secretary and Kakashi before finding his footing once more. "U-Ummm...okay, Kakashi, get your trainee and meet me at my house,"

* * *

**-Minutes Prior-**

"Alright, your father should be here any minute with a few ANBU to sort this whole thing out," Kushina declared, after ushering out her doppelganger to gather her reinforcements. As of now, the Uzumaki matriarch has set the stage thusly, she told her children to remain in the kitchen until her father and his ANBU guards came to retrieve their little intruder while said intruder sat in the living room, still completely naked, wrapped in the glowing chains of Kushina. "And to think some perverted child had snuck into _my _household! Unbelievable,"

"N-No, that's not what happened! You've got it all wrong, I-," the bound boy tried his best to plead but he felt the chain tightened against his sternum, silencing him almost instantly. "T-T-Too….t-t-t-tight,"

"And the more you resist it the tighter it gets," Kushina responded, "so I suggest you keep your wiggling to a minimum,"

"N-Noted," He wheezed, feeling his pride being crushed alongside his lungs.

Mito had grown quite curious of the situation and began to investigate, peering past the threshold between the kitchen and living room in hopes of catching a glimpse as to what is happening, "Kaa-chan, is everything alright in the-,"

Kushina snapped to the sound of her daughter's voice, "stay in the kitchen, Mito! I don't want you around this _boy_ until your father gets home,"

"S-Seriously, you don't understand. I mean you no harm," He tried his best to plead once more but found that it wouldn't do much but cause him more pain.

"Enough," Kushina shot back, "you can explain yourself when my husband and his ANBU get ahold of you, understood? Or...or maybe I'll call in a favor to a friend of mine who knows how to deal with perverts, I think Anko would love breaking you in."

"F-Fine, I-I guess I have no choice," The redhead murmured and before Kushina could respond his body shifted out of existence, leaving her chakra chain to fall limply to the floor.

"What the?" she asked, retracting her chain before scanning the room for his presence only to find nothing but their empty living room. She started to walk deeper into the room, looking under every piece of furniture to see if he somehow slipped her grasp and skimmed under her couch. As she did that she couldn't help but hear a rather distinct sound, the buzzing sound of a fly's wings flapping in the wind which grew closer and closer as if it was circling her head, mocking her, taunting her! She quickly tried to swat it away but it was far too quick for her to do away with as it slipped into her ear, buzzing as loud as it could. Kushina wiggled out of a primal disgust before slapping at her ear in hopes of ridding it of this disgusting insect but, once more, she was too late - cracking her open palm against her ear right as the creature left, leaving her cradling her ringing ear.

"This is ridiculous!" She proclaimed as she nursed the side of her head before bearing witness to a truly odd scene; catching a glimpse of the fly above her couch she watched it shift from the small, insignificant frame of a harmless fly into a fluffy red fox that looked oddly similar to the fox she saw yesterday. Bouncing off the soft cushions the fox slipped past Kushina's bewildered form before making its way towards the kitchen where he would meet with the two he wished to find. Quickly snapping from her daze Kushina shot out one of her chains, latching onto the creature's hind leg just before it hit the linoleum of the kitchen floor. The fox merely craned it's head back to look at what confined him before seamlessly shifting into a red scaled snake before the matriarch's very eyes.

His slithering into the kitchen caused a chorus of screams as both Mito and Nami, who were unaware of what had happened in the living room, were greeted with a red scaled cottonmouth with little explanation. Running on instincts alone, Kushina jolted forward and slid into the kitchen to protect her children from whatever strange creature this shapeshifter was but was once again taken aback by what she saw next. Her children, once scared and screaming from this slithering serpent were now picking it up, allowing it to shift forms once more into the fox they saved the day prior.

"Get away from that...that _thing_," Kushina declared, preparing to snatch the creature up by the scruff of his neck but was stopped by Mito who, surprisingly, stood between her sister and her mother.

"W-Wait, Kaa-chan, we can explain!" The eldest by two minutes sputtered as you could clearly tell standing in opposition of her mother wasn't something she was used to - she liked to leave that to her trouble making sister. "I-I told Nami-chan that we should have informed you and Tou-san of him in the beginning but-,"

"Hey, don't you dare try to pin this whole thing on me!" Nami yelled, placing the red fox behind her in hopes of shielding it from her mother's coming wrath. "You could have gone to their room at any moment and told them but you didn't!"

"You scheming little weasel! You told me last night that we'd tell them in the morning together! You told me not to wake them!" Mito exclaimed, her eyes burning with bitter, child-like hatred for her sister's blatant lies.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Nami merely shrugged, pushing down her guilt for the time being. "You know, for the eldest, you should really set a better example for you-,"

"Say another word and I'll crucify you!" Mito hissed,

"That's enough! Whatever you two are bickering about can wait, right now I need to remove this boy from my home!" Cried Kushina, pulling her first born out of the way before making her way towards her second child who, by all accounts, was still putting up a bit of a fight.

"B-Boy?!" Nami muttered as she peered over her shoulder at the fox she wished nothing more than to protect, which was a strange yet oddly natural feeling she felt bubbling into her chest, "Kaa-chan, what boy?"

"The fox!" She proclaimed which elicited a strange look from both of her children. "He turned into a fly then a fox, then a snake and then a fox again! I saw it with my very eyes. You saw it too,"

"...A-Are you okay, Kaa-chan?" Mito asked

"I know what I saw, Mito." Kushina fired back, "I saw that boy slip through my chains by transforming into a bug and then after he had his fun annoying me he transformed into the fox you're hiding behind you." As the continued to bicker back and forth a flash of yellow light came from the living room, signifying the Fourth had finally arrived to his house and with him were two individuals, one was a ANBU with striking purple hair while the other was Kakashi who deeply desired to follow his master in hopes of helping him with this strange intruder.

Marching into his kitchen, Minato was greeted with his family huddled into a corner - his wife trying to pry his youngest out of her way in order to capture what he assumed to be the 'intruder', a scared looking fox while his eldest stood by, unaware of how to react.

It was at this time Minato's serious expression faded.

Hell, he wasn't even the only one who found this visual to be funny, as his ANBU could be heard snickering behind her mask while Kakashi merely held a confused brow high above his visible eye. With the clearing of his throat, Minato grabbed the room's attention, "Kushina-chan," he spoke, "where's the intruder?"

"Right here," Kushina declared, finally prying her daughter's digits off of the counter-top as she presented the culprit ...a small, fragile little fox, the same one they had saved a day ago.

He didn't really know what to see, "...sweetheart," he grumbled, was this some sort of joke? "In your statement, I believe you said there was a, "naked pervert streaking in our house,"."

"Yes, I know! This is him," said the red head as she scooped up the fox by the scruff of his neck and presenting it for the newcomers to see, "go on now, transform! Show everyone who you really are," but nothing seemed to happen. As the group sat there and watched the fox merely whimpered and take in its surroundings with its big yellow eyes, seemingly oblivious to how much trouble it was in.

"...Honey," Minato began as he felt an emotion creep up from deep within him, something he hadn't felt in quite some time, embarrassment. "It's a fox,"

"Don't you think I know that, Minato?!" Kushina snapped before wiggling the fox in her grasp in hopes of agitating it, "but this isn't an ordinary fox, he has the ability to change! He's just pretending like he's some sweet, innocent fox but it's all just an act."

"So you're telling me that he can transform from a human to an animal?" He asked, humoring her logic for a moment but she could see right through his weak attempts at placating her.

"Don't patronize me, I'm not crazy! I'll make him transform," Kushina proclaimed as she spun the little fox around and proceeded to poke and shake the little vermin in hopes of somehow eliciting a transformation. "Come on, do it! I know you can understand me! Are you trying to make me look crazy," She hissed as her family and colleagues looked on as she pestered this creature in a sad yet, surprisingly, comical fashion.

"Sweetheart, how about you just hand me the fox and I'll take care of him." The blonde kage spoke, trying his best to be the voice of reason while also keeping his wife's sanity out of the question, though to be fair she wasn't making a strong case for herself.

"No, not until he-," she began, taking her eyes off of the fox for a mere moment to speak to her husband which was just enough time for him to strike. The little fur ball Kushina has been pestering lashed out, clamping his teeth down onto her extended finger with enough force to sting but not draw blood. "Ow, you little shit!" She squealed, dropping the fox on pure instinct. With his freedom granted the fox made a run for it, aiming for the upper floor as he recalled that Mito and Nami had forgotten to close the window fully from last night.

He was able to duck and dodge Kakashi and Minato's feeble attempts to capture him but was surprised at how quick the ANBU was, easily snatching him up with a firm grip which his fox frame couldn't shake. Without missing a beat the fox shifted into a small gecko before darting across the ANBU's skin like a bat out of hell, narrowly avoiding each attempt to capture him until he finally made it to the top of her head. As she reached to grab him the gecko jumped from his perch and within a flash was now a crimson crow, making his way upstairs with a few swift flaps of his wings.

"What in the world?!" Minato huffed, still dumbfounded as to what exactly he saw.

"Hmmm, it looks like someone, not gonna name any names, was completely justified in her response and should get a big, fat apology!" Kushina proclaimed, her smug sense of righteousness was justified but wasn't needed at the moment.

"We'll dol out apologies once we've captured...whatever the hell that thing is," Kakashi remarked as he and the ANBU were the first to head upstairs followed by Kushina.

"Stay down here you two, I don't want either of you getting hurt!" Minato ordered before tailing behind the trio, leaving his children to bicker.

"What mess have you landed us in now, Nami?"

"ME?! You have just as much blame in this as I do!"

**-Four Hour Later-**

"Where on earth could he be?" yelled an exhausted Nami as she and her sister came to a halt in the midst of Konohagakure, scanning high and low for any sign of the crimson color that indicated their animal companion. After the whole culmination within the Uzumaki's kitchen, they were told by the adults of the situation that their little friend had transformed into a small rodent and slipped through the crack of their window before shifting back into his crow form, taking off towards God knows where in order to escape the wrath that seemed to follow him.

Once everything seemed to calm down with the adults they all came to a consensus, whatever this creature was, it had to be captured. Something with the ability to transform into whatever whenever wasn't something that should be allowed to just slip around Konoha without further examination - especially if what Kushina saw was to be taken seriously. This placed even more stress on the Uzumaki twins, their furry companion has now had a target painted on his back thanks to their unwillingness to nip this in the bud on day one. They were told to merely head to school and the adults would deal with this 'rampaging' shapeshifter and before they could protest they were whisked away by an ANBU escort to the front door of their beginning class. After an hour or so it would seem that Mito and Nami had given in and just decided to sink into their studies but anyone who knew them would know that was furthest from the truth. Nami was the first to strike, standing quickly and demanding to head to the nurse because of 'intestinal distress' before rushing from the room without giving Iruka-sensei a second to respond. 30 minutes afterward Mito declared she needed to go to the restroom and made a bee-line to their agreed upon meeting point - the blindspot behind the academy where no one cleared the growing bushes and brush that was accumulating, which made it much easier for the two to sneak into the streets of Konoha without detection.

"I don't know, it's been hours since we last saw him. He could be half way to Suna by now," Mito muttered, wiping sweat from her brow with the sleeve of her kimono.

"No, he wouldn't do something like that." Remarked her sister in a vain attempt to bat away such a thought that, just like Mito, was beginning to creep within her mind the longer they searched.

"Nami," Her sibling didn't wish to push the subject but knew that if it wasn't at least addressed they might be spending hours running themselves ragged looking for something that might not be here. "How everything transpired this morning….we have to suspect the worst-,"

"No we don't," she remarked coldly, averting her gaze from her sister in order to keep her composure. "Let's split up, cover more ground. I'll take the red light district, you can take uptown - we'll meet at Ichiraku at 4pm after everything's said and done."

"Nami-cha-..." She tried to speak once more but was greeted with her sibling's retreating frame jumping to the rooftops in order to get a better vantage point. All she could do was sigh before taking off towards the high end of Konoha, "don't get your hopes up, Nami."

"_Come on little guy, where could you be hiding?"_ Nami questioned as she scanned her surroundings atop a locking apartment complex, looking through the dingy and dimly lit menagerie that was the red light district. She has heard of this place but her mother and father have rarely allowed them to enter it without an escort - it was the poor district of Konohagakure that was allowed to fall to ruin under Sarutobi's reign because of the Kyuubi attack and the bureaucratic red tape preventing him from doing anything other than delivering platitudes. Minato is trying his best to change that but you can only do so much seeing as he's only been in the office for a few months now. Maybe in the now so distant future, this place can be fixed up and become a presentable district of Konohagakure once again...but for now, it's not a place Nami wishes to stay for an extended period of time.

From her vantage point, she couldn't find anything of value in her search for her fox so she decided to make her way down to the seedy streets below in order to possibly find a glimpse of her animal. The streets were much worse up close than they were from the rooftops, she could smell the growing trash and filth that was building in the streets, storefronts hocking unsavory wares and the people of the district and their snarled gazes. If she wasn't steadfast in finding what she came for she'd make a run for it - there was this sinking uneasiness that came over her every second she made eye contact with a denizen of the red light district, almost as if they knew who she was and hated her very existence for it. As the Kyuubi container she's felt hate filled gazes before but most of the time she was protected by a watchful ANBU or her family, now she was alone, bare to the true hatred this village harbors for her and her sister.

She was soon taken out of her thoughts by the sound of shuffling within a nearby alleyway. As she took a closer look, she noticed a dumpster stuffed to the brim with garbage bags - one, in particular, seemed to have a mind of its own as it seemed to wiggle due to some unforeseen force. Slipping past the growing crowd she made her way into the dingy alley, the smell of the overflowing garbage slapping her the second she stepped towards it.

Through the stench filled haze that hung across the alleyway, Nami continued onwards, making sure her steps were deliberate yet silent as to not startle her shape shifting companion. She knew so little of what he has gone through today because of their mistake so to say he might be jumpy or prepared to strike would be an understatement. She didn't believe he would hurt her, it was just a feeling she had deep within herself, but what she didn't know was how he would react to the girl who got him into this mess in the first place.

Her hand now pressed against the exterior of the dumpster, Nami lifted the lid to expose its contents and allow a few extra plastic bags to fumble from it, exposing whatever creature called this dumpster home. It was a feral, lanky cat with orange and white strips - her fur caked in dirt and grime while several of her malnourished newborns laid underneath her, suckling at her engorged nipples.

"_T-That's...not him," _she thought, as the new mother cat let out an authoritative hiss. "Sorry, sorry, I-I'll give you some privacy," she stammered and as she shut the lid for the feline and her growing family, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Oi, what do we have here, boys." a voice echoed from the mouth of the alleyway followed by two distinct snickers. They looked plain, almost unremarkable. The one from the back had a bit of a belly while the other to the right seemed to tower over the two but the middle one - he seemed to command the trio of 16 year olds as he sauntered down the aisle with a smirk. "Konoha royalty dumpster diving in our neck of the woods?"

The taller of the three let out a long whistle, "I never thought I'd see the day,"

"...H-Hello," Nami remarked reservedly, though she was raised to show respect from the offset there was something off putting about these boys and their leering gaze. "Is there something you need?"

"Oh, so polite," the front runner said as he chuckled back to his boys. "But to answer your question, no, I don't think we need anything but you, on the other hand, look like you do."

"I mean, why else would you be out here if you weren't looking for something?" The rounder comrade asked, seemingly trying to sound genuinely curious but it came off more...patronizing.

As the trio grew closer down the alleyway the whispers of her family's teachings started to rattle around in her head, "it's none of your business why I'm out here." She remarked sternly, her eyes now trying to visualize some form of way out of this if it got...ugly.

"Now where did that come from?" The leader cooed, feigning some sort of offense, "we merely asked you a question, _Namikaze_-san. Is that a crime?"

"...No," remarked Nami, trying her best to be courteous while also keeping her distance.

"Then come on, let us help you. What are you looking for?" The taller of the three said.

Hesitantly, she conceded to their demand. Maybe she was just being too paranoid for her own good; who knows, they might have seen their little fox and if so it'll help in the long run, "A red fox, he ran away and I've looked all over the villa-,"

"A fox you say," the leader hummed, stroking his chin in contemplation. "Boys, have you seen any red foxes around here lately?"

"Nope,"

"Can't say I have,"

"Man, what a shame. I'm sorry we couldn't have been more of use to you," he sighed, placing a hand on Nami's shoulder in some attempt to comfort her. "but we'll keep our eyes peeled for it,"

Peeling his digits from her shoulder, she graced the trio with a simple, "...thanks," before she tried to make her way towards her salvation.

"Oh, wait, wait, wait! Now I remember something, I think I did see a fox," the leader said,

This couldn't have been better news! The Kage's youngest whipped around and greeted this boy with, "you have?! Where?!"

"Right HERE!" He yelled, cracking her across the jaw with a hefty right which sent the unsuspecting blonde to the floor. The hit wasn't much, she had gotten worse from her sister during sparring practice, but it surely was unexpected which made her a bit starry eyed for a moment - all she could do was try to collect herself and listen to the boy's heckle her.

"Hahaha! Damn, who knew the Kage's daughter was this thick in the head." The quieter boy cheered, seemingly finding his voice as he rushed to the side of his two friends in hopes of getting in on some of the action.

"Kage's daughter or not, she's still a brat. She's still too little to know what's good for her," the eldest of the three chipped in, landing a quick kick to her midsection which she was quick enough to block but not fully - knocking some of the wind out of her in the process. "Don't worry though, we'll teach you a thing or two,"

"Like lesson #1, don't you ever, _ever_ show your face around our part of town again!" The one who delivered the sucker punch decreed fiercely as he dug deep into his pocket before producing a simmering pocket blade - something that looked to be his pride and joy. The other two didn't seem to like the glint in his eyes but couldn't find the words to interject as they allowed their supposed leader to march forward, grip their victim by her closest pigtail and brandishing his knife against her cheek. "Now, so you won't forget it, how about I add two more whisker marks to your ugly face, _demon?!_" He hissed with the venom that told Nami one crucial detail, this boy wasn't playing around.

She needed to get serious!

Though this was her second year at the Academy she had also been training with her family since she was 5, so her skills were beyond that of a simple student - giving her the advantage against the street rats. Using the slack he gave her on her pig tail she pulled back, getting him a bit off balance just enough for her to slip her smaller figure between his open arms and grab his right hand that held his blade. Without much of a fight, she was able to twist his wrist hard enough for him to drop his switchblade and use her position under him to flip him onto the floor below.

With her hair now free and her captor dropped she scooped up the knife and brandished it against the other two individuals who had just realized what had happened.

"Hands where I can see them, assholes!" She yelled, placing the sole of her shoe against the back of his neck, keeping his face deep in the dirt whether he liked it or not and to show she wasn't willing to give up her trump card. "Now I don't know what your problem with me is and honestly I don't care, but if you want to make it out as you came in you better call them off!"

"Back up, guys! Back up," he muffled, the words sounded like bile oozing from the depths of his soul but thankfully his goons complied, both began to shuffle back towards the exit of the alleyway giving her room to breathe and to think of a way out of this mess.

As she thought that a shadow flew above the alley which caught her attention for but a moment as the color of a crimson feather seemed to glimmer through the setting sun, this distraction was all it took for her advantage to turn sour. Lurching forward, one of the goons grabbed a rock hidden behind a trash can and chucked it hard enough to made contact dangerously close to her temple, leaving a bad cut across her forehead. Dazed from the hit, Nami fell backward, allowing the leader to push back against her foot and steal his knife back and bare down on top of her - his knife now inches from her throat!

"You snotty little bitch! Ya almost had me," he snickered, he almost seemed proud of her accomplishments moments ago but the look in his eyes told a different story - her achievement gave him the ability to go further in his torment of this _demon_. "I suppose it was stupid of me to think the Kage's daughter wasn't a well taught fighter. I won't make that mistake again! Boys, hold her down!"

And with that decree his two lackeys came running, grabbing limbs and pinning her to the ground, their previous worried appearances seemingly gone after what had transpired, merely wanting this to be over with than for it to drag out longer than it had too. However, as the boy lowered himself down to her, his knife scratching the surface of her flesh a thud was heard behind them - a deep, robust growl following it. Before any of the teens could turn to face it, the lackey to the left was snatched up by his coat and flung far out of the alleyway soon to be followed by the second lackey, leaving only their kingpin, Nami and whatever just made its appearance.

A palpable fear was bubbling within the last remaining goon as he slowly peered over his shoulder in order to take in what on earth could be behind him and what greeted him wasn't what he expected. Standing there was a fox the size of a dire wolf, its slitted yellow eyes trained on him as its maw filled with sharpened teeth that dripped with drool, ready to rip him apart if he took a single step the beast didn't approve of.

The appearance of this fox caught him a bit off guard, where on earth could a fox that size come from? Why was it here? Was it hers? Maybe it's her pet? As those thoughts ran through his mind he took a moment to peer towards his captured prey and found her smiling of all things.

"T-This thing...it's yours, isn't it?"

"...I-I guess my fox f-found me,"

"You little shi-," He prepared to strike his final blow with his knife, even though he knew the beast stood inches from him he could still take out one of the demons that plague Konoha, but his plan was ill conceived as his speed wasn't a match for her pets. Lunging forward the fox latched its maw around the boy's hand, mangling his digits with his rows of sharpened teeth like an ankle in a bear trap, but before he could deal with the pain he was ripped from his spot and flung against the alley's brick walls with a messy thud.

The fox continued forward, allowing the fool's switchblade to slip from his mouth along with the blood that gushed from his hand, but his stalking was cut short by Nami now standing between the fox and his prey.

"It's okay," She soothed, placing a gentle hand on his snarled maw which seemed to calm him for the moment. "You've saved me, he's no threat to anyone anymore."

"G-God damn it, my hand, m-m-my fuckin' hand!" The boy cried, cradling his mangled appendage with tears now streaming from his once crazed eyes.

"Hey," Nami called, kicking dirt onto the boy's open wounds to get his attention. "If you tell anyone what happened today I'll make sure it won't just be your hand that's fucked up. Got it?"

"...Y-You are a fucking demon," he whimpered, stumbling to his feet the best he can as he made his way towards the mouth of the alleyway.

"You better remember that," she remarked, her face hardened as if she was prepared to do something regrettable after his remark but it all changed once the soft tongue of her companion slapped against her, cleaning her face of the blood and grime built up. She couldn't help but laugh, running her fingers through his wavy fur, "I guess this is the second time you've saved me, huh?"

It was strange to see this fox that was once vicious and filled with rage turn into a ball of energy and joy in the span of seconds, it filled her heart with joy but also questions that needed to be solved. "What are you?" She asked, a question that she knew needed an answer. The large fox soon turned small, shifting back into the smaller more manageable minx they've come to associate their companion with but this didn't seem to satisfy her question.

"No, everything we've seen and everything we've heard from Kaa-chan...you're not just a cute little fox," she spoke, taking a few steps back before taking a knee to address him. "If we're going to fight for you to stay with us we're going to need to know what ...or rather _who_ you are, alright?"

The fox's tail seemed to pause and he's cute panting seized as if the creature was taking in her ultimatum as if he was considering his options, weighing the pros and cons before ultimately coming to his final decision. The fox made a quick turn and duck behind the large dumpster in the depths of the alleyway and before Nami could call out to stop his retreat she could hear a sudden shift as his form went from quadrupedal to bipedal and trading in his red fur for a mane of red hair.

Trying his best to keep his shame covered with a few discarded newspapers and a trash can lid the fully formed boy made his way out from behind the garbage can, revealing his features more clearly to the stunned Uzumaki. His eyes, like his animal forms before this, held a yellow tint to them and no matter what light they were under they seemed to illuminate like fireflies. His hair was still reckless and wild as ever but hidden on the side of his head were his ears, two extended ears that looked almost otherworldly to her - maybe he was another being entirely.

"...Hi,"

"...Hey,"

* * *

"Mito, please, for the last time, where is your sister!?" Minato practically begged as he and his wife stood within their household with Kakashi and their purple haired mask ANBU by there side as they had their eldest by minutes sitting before them. During Nami's little trip they found Mito rather easily, seeing as after she finished searching the upper parts of the village she was ratted out by Ayame down at Ichiraku, apparently they've been roped in by their family to make sure they're kept on the straight and narrow. Now, it's been 3 hours since she's been caught and there's been no sign of that shape shifting fox or her sister and it's causing a large amount of concern for both the parents and Mito in particular.

"And I keep telling you if I knew I would have told you by now," Mito pleaded, "Tou-san, you know me! I would never let such a lie continue but right now I've told you all I know. We split up, I searched the high end district of Konoha she searched the red light district,"

"We've told you girls never to go there!" Kushina remarked hotly, you could tell she lashed out with a mother's worry but there was a reason why Minato is the diplomate of the two.

Mito merely shook her head and spoke the truth, "I know, Kaa-chan but she was adamant to search there. She wanted to find our companion,"

Kushina's ears perked to her daughter's statement, "_our_ companion?" She asked as she noticed Mito shift at the comment.

"I-I meant...our…," she began but couldn't find the strength to continue, she knew that lies were the reason this whole thing fell apart, to begin with, and the only way for there to be some way to build back up a relationship of trust with their parents she needed to come clean. "A-At Inuzuka compound the other day when Nami and I fell...it wasn't because we felt spent but because...something happened between that fox and...and…"

"The Kyuubi," the room felt uncomfortably cold as those words left Minato's lips.

Once the room fell silent as they all traded glances the main doorknob twisted delicately open as two teens tried their best to sneak quietly into the suspected empty house, each carrying a bag of clothing in each arm as if they had gotten done with a shopping spree. One of the teens being the Uzumaki's missing daughter Nami, sporting a freshly stitched forehead, dirted clothing, and tangled hair while behind her stood a boy that all but one couldn't quite place.

"You!" Screamed Kushina, unleashing her chakra chain as soon as her eyes laid bare on the red headed boy quickly wrapping itself around him and slammed him against the hardened kitchen floor before sliding him into the din for all to see. As Kakashi and the ANBU kept their weapons and eyes trained on the fully clothed stranger, the Uzumaki/Namikaze family dashed over and engulfed their missing family member in a near suffocating hug.

"Oh my god, Nami, your okay! Thank the gods you're here,"

"What happened to you?! What's on your forehead? Did this man hurt you?! If he did I swear to god if he did!"

"What happened out there, Nami! You promised me at 4 pm you'd be there at Ichiraku, you promised! An Uzumaki never goes back on their word!" All of these questions coming in so quickly and so abruptly, it was suffocating to say the _very_ least. She couldn't help but drown out each and every one of them and merely wiggle her way out of her family's embrace and move to help her bound defender - trying to shew away Kakashi and his ANBU apprentice.

Lowering herself to his floored position, Nami placed a hand against his chained form. "I'm so sorry about this,"

"I-It's alright...I kinda assumed I wasn't going to get the warmest of welcomes when we got back," he tried his best to chuckle though, as the loops of the chains rested uncomfortably in between his ribs, he found it hard to do so.

"Nii-chan, can you get off of him, he's no threat," Nami said to Kakashi who merely cocked a brow and gave a look to the bewildered family matriarch behind her.

The purple haired ANBU looked to Kakashi, to the untrained it looked to be a subordinate looking to her superior for orders but Kakashi knew she found Nami's little pet name for her "hardened" ANBU master to be cute. "It's...not really my call."

"It's mine," Kushina spoke, racking the chain against the wood floor to get her daughter's attention. "And I think, young lady, you have a lot of explaining to do."

**And that is everything, my readers! Thank you all so much, I appreciate your support on this story's first chapter and I hope the second chapter lives up to the wait. One of the questions I noticed I got once or twice was how does this connect with Teen titans or DC (seeing as I bounced it between the two) and it's simple, I've always enjoyed the idea of the Beast Boy's ability and I wanted to pretty much take Beast Boy and fuse him with Naruto and make a story around that. **

**So, if you have any questions please feel free to PM me and please leave a review telling me how I've done on this one. Thank you once again!**


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